Sorting machine



J. YOUNG SORTING MACHINE Feb. 6, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 25, 1957 Inventor J. YOUNG Attorney Feb. 6, 1962 Filed Jan. 25, 1957 J. YOUNG SORTING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 i INVENTOR. v J05EPH You/VG BY W ATTORNEY Feb. 6, 1962 J. YOUNG SORTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 25, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. JOSEPH YOUNG W. WW

ATTORNEY SORTING MACHINE Joseph Young, Antwerp, Belgium, assignor to Interna tional Standard Electric Corporation, New York, N.

a corporation oi Delaware Filed Jan. 25, 1957, Ser. No. 636,309 Claims priority, application Belgium Jan. 31, 1956 17 Claims. (Cl. 209-74) The invention relates to a sorting machine. More particularly it concerns a sorting machine adapted to the sorting or classification of substantially fiat documents, such as checks, punched cards, or any substantially flat individual carrier able to enclose or generally support such types of documents.

Among recent sorting machines, so called merging machines have been disclosed which permit for example merger of a first series of punched cards with a second series of such cards. For both series, the cards are ordered in accordance with characteristic numbers which determine the way of sorting and pairs of cards from the two series are successively compared in order to integrate the two series of cards thereby producing a single series of cards which are all ordered. Such machines are generally provided with two input stores and at least two output stores. Machines of this type are for example described in the French Patents Nos. 880,474 and 994,905 as well as in the Belgian Patents Nos. 499,906 and 522,669.

The general object of the invention is to realize an improved document sorting machine of the two input-two ited States PatentO mechanical features of a sorting machine, it may be useful output type. The term document is used herein to mean any sortable record article including the composite record article constituted by a document and an individual carrier therefor.

According to the invention, a sorting machine wherein documents are fed along collateral courses is provided with means for selectively transferring documents from one said course to another. More specifically, means are provided for selectively cross-feeding documents between collateral courses. Considering the documents along such course as a file or series of documents, the invention provides means for selectively transferring documents from either of two collateral files or series to the other in order to arrive at an ultimately ordered arrangement of the documents of both series or files.

In accordance witha characteristic of the invention, a document sorting machine provided with two input stores and two output stores for said documents is characterized by the fact, (1) that a pair of continuously advancing input conveyers are provided such that they are able to carry the corresponding documents and to urge each input series of documents towards a fixed plate provided for each input store respectively, the first document of each store having its front surface pressed against the corresponding plate and all the documents pressing against one another due to the advance of the'corresponding conveyor, (2) that means are provided to lift'the document pressed against said plate in a substantially vertical plane in which the document which is merely supported by the corresponding conveyer is located, as well as said plate, (3) that the lifting of a document from one of the two input positions carries said document to a corresponding intermediate input position located substantially above the corresponding input position, and (4) that edgewise conveying means are provided from each of said intermediate input positions so that a document having reached one of said intermediate input positions may be conveyed in a substantially horizontal direction towards one or the other of two intermediate output positions.

In accordance with another characteristic of the invention, a document sorting machine as characterized above to point out that the sorting machine of the invention can be used for sorting documents in different ways.

Before outlining these principles of sorting one will briefly describe how the characteristic numbers in accordance with which the sorting is to be made should be recorded on the documents or, in the case of composite documents, on their individual carrier elements. In case of checks forinstance the sorting may have to be made in accordance with the account numbers. These can for example berecorded on a piece of magnetic tape carried on a carrier enclosing the check. Binary recording constitutes the general way, in'case of magnetic recording. Hence, an account number will be recorded by a series of successive closely spaced binary signals on the piece of tape. This does not essentially mean that the decimal account numbers will be translated into equivalent binary numbers. It simply means that to each decimal number corresponds a binary number (not necessarily its ordinal equivalent, e.g. 77 may be coded in an obvious way as 01110111 and not as 1001101 the equivalent binary number) but if one wishes that the ordering of the binary numbers corresponds to the orderingof the decimal numbers, the order of the corresponding binary numbers should be identical to that of the decimal numbers. Automatic scanning means can then be provided to read the signals 'on each piece of magnetic tape corresponding to an input document. These will then be processed through the machine in accordance with the principle of sorting which is used.

Thejfirst principle of: sorting consists in first examining the binary digit of lowest weight of all documents which are passed through the machine.

For these documents having 0 as lowest weight binary digit, these will be successively directed by the sorting machine to the first output store. For those documents having 1 as lowest weight binary digit, those will be successively directed by'the sorting machine to the second output store. After all the documents provided at the inputs of the sorting machine have been passed to'one or the other of the two output stores, these will therefore respectively contain documents bearing numbers with 210 as the lowest weight binary digit and with a 1 ,as the lowest weight binary digit. Then, the two series of documents can be respectively inserted in the first and in the second input stores of the machine for a second sorting pass. This assumes of course that the machine is limited to one sorting stage only. The documents having a 0 as lowest weight binary digit will firstbe processed through the machine which will this time assess the value of the binary digit having the second lowest weight.

Again, when a 0 is found, the document will go to the first output store while when a 1 is found, the document 3 the documents having a 1 for the highest weight binary digit in the second output store.

A second sorting principle which can be used is to sort by collating or comparing and it is with this collating principle that the present invention is particularly concerned. In such a case, the number of sorting passes no longer depends on the number of binary digits of the numbers according to which the sorting is made, but on the total number of documents which must be sorted. Also, instead of sorting digit by digit, as a document goes through any sorting stage of the machine for a sortin pass, its full number is scanned.

The documents in first and second dual input stores of a first collating stage will be compared and the documents directed to alternative output stores in accordance with the comparison results. According to the invention, these output stores will serve as the dual first and second input stores of the second collating stage. The documents in the latter input stores will be compared and further directed according to the comparison results to alternative output stores of the second stage which output stores, by extension of this new principle of collating individual documents, can serve as the dual input stores of the third stage, and'so on. Any known and suitable data reading and comparing means can be adapted for use with the invention. The invention, however, is especially suited for employment with the comparing means disclosed and claimed in assignees copending application of G. Van Mechelen, Ser. No. 635,884, filed January 23, '1957, now Patent No. 2,987,705. Under control of such comparing means, documents from dual first and second input stores of a stage of the collator will be selectively routed to one of two dual input stores of a next collating stage, the documents following one another in chosen ascending or descending value sequence into the input store of said next stage until a break in the chosen sequence occurs, whereupon the document breaking the sequence will be directed to the other of the dual input stores of said next stage, in accordance with the invention. Assume that an ascending value sequence is chosen, in which a document with a lower number is to be fol lowed by a document with a higher number. The numbers of the first input store will be successively compared with those of the second input store until it is no longer possible to find a number in either of the two input stores which is greater than thenumber which has justbeen sent to one of the output stores to which output store all the numbers examined by this process will have been sent in accordance with their natural order. Then, the first output sequence has been obtained and this corresponds to the merging of the first sequences of numbers which happened to be found in the two input stores. The minimum length of the initial sequences is one document only but it may also happen that the initial sequences are much longer. With this consideration, it is clear that the method has the advantage, by never destroying an initial sequence, of necessitating on the average a smaller number of automatically successive sorting passes, according to the invention, in order to arrive at the final unique sequence of ordered documents. In the worst case, when the documents initially contained in the two input stores are respectively ordered in exactly the opposite way to the desired one, the number of sorting passes required may not be smaller than with other methods, but for average initial distributions, the required number of sorting passes will generally be appreciably smaller.

The above mentioned and other objects or characteristics of the invention will be'better understood by referring to the following description of a detailed embodiment of the invention to be'read in relation to the appended drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view in which is shown the left handsection of the first stage of a multi-stage sorting ing stage, as will be shown later.

machine, the view also showing document transfer means between the left'and right hand sections of the first-stage.

FIG. 2 is a plan view indicating the first two stages of the machine.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a detail of the equipment.

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of a detail of the equipment.

The right-hand part of the machine is entirely symmetrical and parallel with the left-hand part, the left "and right hand sections of the first stage being symmetrically arranged with respect to the axis occupied by the central shaft 1.

Two input stores adapted to receive documents such as individual carriers each containing one check are used. The .lefthand input store shown essentially consists in two belts 2 and 2 which should be made of a suitably robust material, such as nylon, adapted to support the individual carriers. A similar pair'of belts Zr and Zr'is provided for the right hand store. A series of carriers such as v3 are shown to be supported on each pair of the belts by means of shoulders 4 and 4 which give to the otherwise rectangular carrier 3 a T-shaped appearance. These carriers 3 will be made as light as possible, preferably using transparent plastic material and having a flap (not shown) permitting the insertion of a check (not shown) which remains visible. Despite the carriers being light, e.g. of the order of two ounces, the conveying belts will nevertheless have to support a substantial weight if one considers a sorting machine to whichbatches of the order of a thousand documents can be fed, half these documents going on each parallel pair of belts.

The left hand conveying belts 2 and 2' are supported on the pulleys 5 and 5 which rotate in the sense indicated by the arrows, being mounted on a driving shaft 6 which is partially shown, and which also supports corresponding driving pulleys Sr and Sr for the input store of the right-hand side of the machine. The same pairs of belts may extend through successive sorting stages to the output end of the machine. Corresponding pulleys will then be provided -to support and eventually drive'the conveying belts 2 and 2 and Zr and Zr, at the output ends of the machine (not shown). Alternatively, the belts 2 and 2 and Zr and 2r' may have a length which is just sufiicient for acting as input store for the first input stage of the machine. In this case, each sorting stage would have its own set of input belts. The input belts for any intermediate stage or for the last stage of the machine would then receive the carriers from the preced- In such a case, the left-hand set of belts would all be aligned in a direction parallel to the belts, such as 2 and 2, a similar 'align ment being used forthe right-hand set of belts Zr and Zr.

Referring to FIGS, 1, 3 and 4, as the documents are dropped on the upper parts of the'belts 2 and 2, or otherwise deposited thereon, they are immediately-carried forward towards the front plate '7, the friction between the lower edges ofthe shoulders 4 and 4' and the belts being sufiicient to cause the movement of the document carriers. This front plate 7 may be fixed and the carriers, such as 3, will therefore be progressively stacked against this plate 7, the belts 2 and 2 being then allowed to slip under the lower edges of the shoulders 4 and 4 of the carriers'3. I

A movable lifting assembly 8 is partially shown (see also FIGS. 3 and 4). This supports two electro-magnets 9 and 9' which, when energized, can attract their respective armatures 10 and 10'. These are pivoted at 11. and 11 to the ends of the assembly 8. Upon the energization of the corresponding electromagnet, such as y, the upper part, such as 12', of the armature 10' will be withdrawn away from the plane of the plate 7'due to the rocking of the armature 10' around-its pivot 11, the direction of rocking being clockwise when looking toward the right end of the lifting assembly. The upper part, such as 12', of the armature 10 is provided with an extension 13' pre'ssed against the plate 7.

which in the released condition of the electromagnet 9', is

arranged to be located slightly under the shoulder 4 of the first carrier the face of which is being pressed against the abutment plate 7 due to the advancement of the belts 2 and 2, the pressure of the leading document against the abutment plate being enhanced by the mass of documents which are progressively pressed forward. The

length of this extension, such as 13, should closely cor-- respond with the thickness of a carrier, e.g. l millimeter, so that it stands only underneath the shoulder of a single carrier.

The lifting assembly 8 is provided with two vertically extending slots, such as 14' which are open at their lower end. Inside these slots passes a shaft 15 which is common to the sorting stage considered and which therefore extends through the corresponding right-hand lifting as sembly (not shown). This shaft 15 is powered from the driving shaft 6 by means of the sprockets, such as 16 (on shaft 6) and 17 (on shaft 15), linked by the chain 18. Inside the vertical walls of the lifting assembly 8, the shaft 15 carries two cams, such as 19 and 19, which act on the corresponding rollers, such as 20 and 20', which are mounted on an axle, such as 21, supported by the two vertical walls of the lifting assembly, such as 8, in bearings, such as 22'. Hence, as the shaft 6 and consequently the shaft 15 is rotated, the axle 21 will be regularly lifted for each rotation of the shaft 15 carrying in its movement the lifting assembly 8. This means that if the electro-magnets 9 and 9 are de-energized, the extensions 13 and 13 will lift the first document which has been In order to ensure that a document is well pressed against the plate 7, one may provide a suction device comprising the pipes, such as 23 and 23. in this manner, one may obtain a close adjustment of the carrier against the plate 7, so that the -extensions l3 and 13 will be able to lift the first carrier and only that one.

The upward movement of the lifting assembly 8 should be suflicient to permit the carrier to be raised to such an extent that it engages between the pairs of rollers 24-25 and 24'25. The rollers 24-24 are carried by an axle 26, which is only partially shown and which will be mounted on a suitable fixed part (not shown) of the ma chine in such a way that they are able to be slightly displaced in a direction parallel to that of the belts 2 and 2'. Spring restoring means (not shown) should be used so that the rollers 24 and 24 tend to press against the driving rollers 25 and 25'. These are mounted on an axle 27 which is only partially shown but which is mounted in fixed bearings. A sprocket wheel 27 should be assumed to be supported on an extension of the axle 27 v and is used to drive the rollers 25 and 25' as indicated by the arrow. This sprocket wheel 27' is driven by a chain 31 from the sprocket wheel 28 mounted on the shaft 15. The chain drive also includes sprocket wheel 29 and an idling sprocket 30 is shown to permit sprocket wheel 28 to drive the sprocket Wheels 27 and 29.

Upon the carrier being inserted inside the rollers 24-24 and 25-25, the idler rollers 24--24 will be slightly displaced to permit the insertion of the carrier but will press the latter against the driving rollers 25- 25. Hence, from that moment, the carrier will proceed With its vertical movement under the action of the driving rollers 25--25'. Suitable guides (not shown) should of course be provided to enable a carrier to remain in the vertical plane as shown. As the carrier progresses upwards, it will become engaged inside the rollers 32-33 and 3233 which are arranged in exactly the same way as the rollers 2425 and 2425, the driving rollers 33-33' being driven by means of the sprocket wheel 29 mounted on an extension of their axle 34.

At any suitable place corresponding to the path of vertical ascension of the carrier, an automatic reading arrangement may be provided to automatically read the account number of the check inserted in the carrier 3 as the latter proceeds upwards. Apart from supporting the check, the carrier 3 will be provided with a piece of magnetic tape 35 extending vertically and on which signals characterising the account number, and usually other information, have been previously inscribed when the check was put into its carrier. This reading device is not shown but it will be understood to be essentially constituted by magnetic reading heads which will be located in such positions that the carrier and more particularly the piece of magnetic tape mounted on the latter will be able to cause pulses to flow through these reading heads as the carrier goes past them. These pulses will convey the corresponding account number to an electrical control equipment which is not shown but which is preferably equipment such as shown and claimed in the previously mentioned copending application of G. Van Mechelen and which will determine the way in which the documents are to be advanced from both input positions as well as the way in which the documents are to be distributed to the two output stores.

As the carrier moves upwards, through the rollers, it will gather suflicient speed so that it can be projected inside a document receiver 36 defining a document input station also referred to as the intermediate input position. A suitable uni-directional gating mechanism (not shown) will be provided at the entrance of this intermediate position receiver 36, which entrance corresponds to the level of a table (not shown) on which 36 is mounted, so that the document including carrier 3 is able to move'fully inside 36 but cannot fall back afterwards. As shown, the intermediate receiver 36 is essentially rectangular in shape but hollow so that it can contain the document and in effect constitutes a document receiving pocket 36. It should be noted that pocket 36 is disposed in a vertical position perpendicular to the input course of the documents on conveyor 22, and the back of the slot in the pocket will be vertically above and in planar registration with the document abutting face of the plate 7. Portions of the front and rear walls of the pocket 36 arecutaway at 37 and 37' to permit the driving rollers 38 and 38' as well as the idling rollers 39 and 39 to engage opposite surfaces of the documents 3.

The rollers 39 and 39' are normally'in retracted position in which they are ineffective to engage the document in pocket 36. Such engagement and resulting document feeding coaction with rollers 38 and 38' will only happen upon the electrical control circuits having found that the document 3 occupying pocket 36 is the one which should first go to one of the output stores. In this case, the electromagnet 40 will be energized pulling its armature 41, whereby the link parallelogram 42 will be stretched in such a way that the idling rollers 39 and 39' will press the document 3 against the driving rollers 38 and 38'. Point 43 of the parallelogram linkwork 42 has a fixed position determined by means not shown. The driving rollers 38 and 38', as well in fact as the other driving rollers 44, 45, 46, 46', 47, 47' and 48 are all powered by means not shown which will preferably be located underneath the horizontal plane of the table in which the lower edge of the document 3 is now resting. Coaction of the rollers 38 and 38' with rollers 37 and 37 feeds the upright-positioned document 3 endwise toward the right from its fully entered position in pocket 36. Upon the document 3 emerging from'36 which thus to rotate around the vertical pivot 51 and with a spring 52 between the other end of said lever 50 and a fixed point 53 so that the roller 49 is urged against the driving roller 44. Then, the document 3 will be engaged between th and further .on,'the document will become engaged be- 'and right halves of the first stage of the machine.

36. .item thereon will be read by means such as referred to -in the description of the left half and transmitted to the :tweenthe rollers '46 and 55, the latter being again an idler similar to 49. In this movement, the document 3 :hasbeen displaced edgewise, its lower edge gliding along the smooth surface of the horizontal top table which has not been shown on the figure. It will be assumed, however, that after coming out on the right of the rollers 46 and 55, the document will find a slight recess in said smooth table and such that it will drop into it, this avoiding further displacement of the document 3 toward the -right, so;that the document Will stop short of the rollers 46' and 55 which, asshown by the arrows for the drivboth the left and right hand document courses, this offset station being in the present embodiment a symmetrical position with respect to the central shaft 1, with the idler rollers"56--56 and 57'57' resting against its front surface. These 'four rollers are mounted on a small frame fixed to the shaft 1. The description has dealt in detail vwith the transfer of a document 3 from conveyor Z2 'in-the lefthalf of the first stage of the machine to a symmetrical position with respect to the shaft 1, the frame thereon, and the rollers mounted on this frame. As

previously indicated (see particularly the first paragraph following the brief description of the figures), shaft 1 is centrally located between the entirely symmetrical left The right half, as indicated in FIG. 2, is a mirror image of thelefthalf and contains the counterparts of plate 7, magnets 9, 9', and other elements of the lifting assembly 8,

also cams such as 19 and 19, and the upward feeding elements 24 to 33', so that a document on conveyor 2r-2r. andpressed against an abutment plate similar to 7 of the left half willbe'fed upwardly into the pocket During upward feed of the document, a control previously mentioned electrical control equipment which -will determine the subsequent course of the document. In. the case of collating, the electrical equipment, in

known manner, will compare an account number, for instance, on the document being fed to 36 with an account number derived from a document in the left hand input in order to determine whether the document in 36 orin 36 should next be fed to the central position. When the document in '36 is to be fed to the central position,

the electrical control equipment will cause a magnet corresponding to 4! to be energized for distending linkage 42 so as to bring rollers 39r and 391- into feed coaction with rollers 38r and 38r. These rollers and feed roller .couples 44'-49', 45'54', and 46'--55 will feed the document endwise from 36' to centralposition. From the moment that a document 3 in either half went past the related reading position before arriving in the intermediate .pocket. 36 or 36, the electrical control equipment was able to determine the output direction which this document had to take if it was the one to go through the central deflecting position. Hence, as soon as the document 3 has reached a position'symmetrical with'respect to theshaft 1, either of the electromagnets 58 or 58 can'be energized to cause the part 59 to be pulled either to the left'or to the right depending onthe output direction to be followed by the document 3. As the part 59 is provided with teeth meshing into the gear 60 on the the fixed part 64 due to the action of the part 65 fixedly mounted on 59.

Assuming that shaft 1 is rocked clockwise, the idlers 5'6 and 57 will be displaced so as to pivot the document 3 against the driving roller 47. Previous to this displacement, the document 3 may have been held against the idlers 56-56 and 57-57 by any suitable means,

mounted for example on the pivotable frame mounted on 1. After having gone through the rollers 47 and 5'657, feed of the document 3 will be continued by the previously used driving roller 46 but this time cooperating with the idler 66 similar to 49. The document will further move between the rollers 45 and 67, as well was between 43 and 68, the rollers 67 and 68 being also idlers similar to 49.

After passing through this series of rollers, the document is will be projected inside the intermediate output receiving pocket 69 which is of a substantially flat rectangular shape and hollowed as shown. A gate is preferably used at the bottom of 69 to open at proper time to permit the document to drop from 69, and this gate when closed may afiord a recess so that inside pocket 69, the document 3 is allowed to drop slightly to prevent any undesirable rebound. Instead of a gate, the top plate (not shown), on which 69 is supported, may be provided with a slot through which the document in 69 may fall onto belts 22'.

The previous movements of the document 3 which have been described maybe controlled either by photocell arrangements or by small switches either of them being located at suitable places and reacting on the passage of a document. For example, it is clear that there should be some device to indicate that pocket 36 has been occupied by a document so that if the control equipment determining which document should be the first to go out is in the appropriate condition, the document in pocket 36 can be dispatched to the central deflecting position. Further, upon this document having been moved from pocket 36, the electro-rnagnets 9 and 9' cannow be released to permit the lifting of the next document towards this pocket 36.

Upon the intermediate output pocket 69 having been occupied by the document 3, similar detecting devices will be actuated with the result that this document 3 will now be dropped vertically on to the conveying belts} and 2'.

It will be remarked that the document will fall from pocket 69 in a substantially vertical plane but which is at an oblique angle with respect to the vertical plane occupied by 36. This is advantageous from the point of view of dropping the document 3 on the belts -2 and 2' since the oblique position gives a certain tolerance permitting the document to be easily dropped on the belts without any risk of the shoulders 4 and 4' being unable to fall on the upper parts of the belts 2 and 2' due to jamming, or without any risk of the document being allowed to fall through between the belts. Having reached thatpart of the belts underneath 69, the document is in fact in the left hand output store of the first stage. This output store can constitute the input store of the left hand section of the next sorting stage. If desirable, the set of belts 2 and 2 and Zr and Zr may be of such length that they are only used as input stores for one sorting stage, in which event there will be as many sets of belts as there are sorting stages. In such a case therefore, a document 3 falling from, say, .69 would be deposited on a new pair of conveying belts which would carry it to the front plate corresponding to 7 in the next sorting section along the left hand course.

When a document in central positionat shaft 1 is togo to intermediate output pocket 69' in the right hand section of the first stage, the solenoid 58' is energized, actuating rack 59 to turn shaft 1 counterclockwise. Rollers 56' and 57' thereupon coact with roller 47 to feed the .documenttothe right, the feed being continued by roller couples 46'66', 45'67 and 48'--68' until the document is in pocket 69 ready to drop onto belts 2r-2r' for advance to the next right hand section.

The second stage can be quite identical with the first and is indicated in abbreviated form in FIG. 2 by pockets 36a, 69a, 36a and 69a in the same relation to shaft In as that of 36, 69, 36, 69' to the shaft 1. Sections of belt-conveyors 22' and 2r-2r form dual input stores in the second stage and convey records to dual input mechanisms which lift records from the stores and feed them upwardly past data reading means into input stations 36a and 36a. From these stations the records are fed, in an order determined by data read on the records, to transfer position at la. The record at transfer position is then fed either to left or right, into either 69a or 69a, as determined by selection means including solenoids similar to 58 and 53 and means controlled thereby for turning 60a and shaft 1a clockwise or counterclockwise to render either 57a and associated elements or 57a and associated elements effective to feed the record. From 69a or 69a, as the case may be, the record drops onto the conveyor section below and which serves as an output store of the second stage and, if there is a third stage, also forms an input store in a side of the latter stage.

The described machine is a multi-stage dual-course record sorter or collator. Parallel conveyors 2-2 and 2r2r carry dual files of the records along collateral courses through successive sorting stages. Each such stage includes dual, left and right hand input stores formed by conveyor sections. Each stage also has means to direct records past reading means into stations such as 36 and 36' and for then directing the record in either station to a transfer station within the stage. Each stage further includes means for selectively directing the record from the transfer station and via an output station such as 69 or 69' into either the left or right hand input store of the next stage.

Although it has been considered that a document was to be read while moving upwards, this is not absolutely essential and the document might be scanned while it is stopped in pocket 35. Suitable openings will then be provided in the vertical walls of this intermediate position to permit the moving reading head to become engaged with the magnetic strip. It seems however an advantage to use the displacement of the document for reading since no additional time is required in that case.

Although a document may have gained suflicient kinetic energy to be fully inserted in the pocket 36 when it is no longer engaged by rollers 2424', 2525' and 32-32, 33-33, additional rollers may be provided above the table to assist the full insertion of the document in this position. This set of rollers would be parallel to the rollers already shown for the vertical movement and suitable openings would be cut in 36 to permit their engagement on both sides of the document.

While the principles of the invention have been described above in connection with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation on the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a document collating machine or the like,.the combination with means carrying plural files of the documents, of mechanical transfer means for selectively effecting interchange of documents between the files.

2. In a document collating machine or the like, the combination with means carrying files of documents along dual courses, of mechanical transfer means for selective- 1y cross-feeding documents between either course and the other.

3. In a document sorting machine or the like, the combination with means for advancing successive documents along two courses, of means for diverting the documents, one at a time, from each of said courses to a 1Q v transfer station, and means for selectively returning a document from said station to its original course or alternatively to the other course.

4. In a document sorting machine or the like, the combination with means for advancing records along dual courses, of means for feeding one document at a time out of an exit position ofone said course to a station offset from both courses, mechanism operable either to return the document at said station to its previous course at an input position spaced along this course from said exit position, or to direct the document from said station into an input position in the other course, and selection means for selectively rendering one or the other of these operations effective.

5. In a machine as defined in claim 4, said mechanism including a pair of oppositely rotating feed elements adjacent one face of the document at said station and means for urging the document 'into feeding coaction with one or the other of said feed elements.

6. In a machine as defined in claim 4, said mechanisms including a pair of oppositely rotating feed rollers adjacent one face of the document at said station, a pair of idler rollers adjacent the opposite face of said document, an intermediately pivoted frame having oppositely extending arms mounting one idler roller on one arm and the other idler roller on the opposite arm, and means for selectively rocking said frame in either direction by said selection means to swing one or the other idler roller mounted thereon into document feeding coaction with one or the other of said oppositely rotating rollers.

7. In a machine as defined in claim 6, said selection means including electromagnetic means and means selectively actuated thereby for rocking said pivoted frame in either direction.

8. In a document collating machine or the like, means for carrying documents along successive stages of dual document courses, each stage having paired sections one in each course, in combination with means at each stage for selectively transferring a document from 'either section of that stage to either section of the next stage.

9. In a document sorting machine or the like having means for reading machine control data on one docu ment at a time, the combination with reading means and a continually advancing conveyor carrying a file of the documents toward said reading means, of means for feeding the leading document of the file off the conveyor and past the reading means, while the conveyor by its continual advance brings the next document into the leading position vacated by the document fed off the conveyor.

10. The invention according to claim 9, wherein each document is provided at opposite sides with lateral shoulders, said conveyor comprising horizontally running belting with parallel, spaced, belt lengths between which the documents are suspended vertically one behind another by their shoulders.

11. The invention according to claim 10, wherein the reading means is above the conveyor, said means for feeding the leading document off the conveyor comprising lifting means including elements reaching under the shoulders of the leading document to raise it off the conveyor.

12. The invention according to claim 11, said elements being movable in one direction to. reach under the shoulders of the leading document and movable in the opposite direction to withdraw from the shoulders, and electromagnetic means for controlling said movements of the elements.

13. The invention according to claim 12, the lifting means including cam following means, and a shaft below the lifting means provided with camming means engaged with the cam following means to operate the lifting means vertically during rotation of the shaft.

14. In a document sorter, a plurality of sorting stages including a succession of alternate input and output stations respectively to receive documents from and deliver documents to a document path below the stations, input mechanisms each to feed one document at a time up- Wardly from said path into an associated input station, and successive horizontally running endless conveyor sections supporting the documents on edge, each in upright disposition across said path, for advancing the documents to the respective input mechanisms and for receiving documents from the output stations.

15. In a document sorter or the like, a continually advancing horizontal belt-conveyor for supporting a batch of documents on edge, each in upright disposition across the conveyor, an abutment against which the conveyor moves the face of the leading document, a receiving station, and means at the abutment for feeding the document engaged therewith upwardly within its own plane and off the conveyor into said receiving station, While the conveyor advances the batch of documents to bring the next leading document into facial engagement with said abutment.

16. The invention according to claim 15, and means at said receiving station for feeding the document therein endwise out of the station in a direction transverse of the direction of conveyor movement.

17. The invention according to claim 16, the feeding means at the station including normally ineitective elements freely receiving a document fed upwardly into the station, and electromagnetic means for controlling effectivity of said elements in feeding a document endwise from the station.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,364,202 Ford Dec. 5, 1944 2,379,828 Rubidge et a1. July 3, 1945 2,502,960 Johnson Apr. 4, 1950 2,661,841 Wallace Dec. 8, 1953 

